Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 July 2025

Vampires in Mississipi?

Sinners (2025)
Directed: Ryan Coogler

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31193180/
We are all familiar with vampires and the medical explanation for their condition. Examining their behaviours, doctors have concluded that they must be suffering from acute intermittent porphyria. It is a genetically inherited disease in which a deficient enzyme leads to the build-up of heme under the skin. Certain trigger factors can initiate a chain reaction, producing by-products that cause severe skin reactions, such as blistering and pain. These triggers include light and possibly garlic, which contains sulphur. 

Legend has it that the aberrant gene mainly affects a particular aristocratic family in Transylvania, present-day Romania, known as the Draculas. Understandably, folklore about this family in movies and stories involves white-skinned characters. Of course, in this day and age, just an arrangement would not suffice.

In the early days of photography and the development of moving pictures, as well as until the 1970s, film rolls were often biased against individuals with dark skin. They were orthochromatic, meaning they were sensitive to blue and green light but blind to red. This technical limitation made lighter skin tones more flattering, while darker skin tones appeared unnaturally dark and lacked detail. Film development processes cater for Caucasian subjects.

The discrimination persisted into the 1960s, when colour film gained popularity. The chemicals used to develop the films were not designed to preserve a wide range of tones except for shades of white. Kodak even had a colour chart called the Shirley Card, featuring a picture of a particular white woman, used as a standard to determine image clarity and skin tones in prints. 

Shirley card
It was protests from furniture makers and chocolate manufacturers against Kodak's films that prompted changes in how they detected a wider range of colours in their movies. Earlier complaints from graduating black students, along with blurry graduation photos, were ignored. They had complained, 'The darker the person was, the less visible his image.' When Kodak's business interests were threatened, they responded. Kodak introduced Kodak Gold, which claimed it could photograph a black horse against a white background without losing any details. 

Digital photography transformed everything. Instead of using light-sensitive films that need developing, it utilises electronic sensors to capture and store images. 

Given this background, it is only logical that 21st-century filmmakers, for whom equity is a buzzword and various movements around us testify to this, should create a film that rectifies the past. Now, we have a fictional story of vampires suddenly appearing in 1930s America, specifically in Mississippi, where African Americans are portrayed as running around with fangs and biting necks.


Incorporating themes of racial discrimination, the KKK, and a gore-filled night scene in dim lighting, the film aims to correct historical errors, featuring black vampires and meticulously filming dark-skinned actors with attention to makeup and facial expressions.

Verdict: Not my cup of tea (3/5).




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Saturday, 3 December 2022

of wants and needs...

We Are Nature (2021)

Pictures by: Wim Michiels


I met Wim and Ellen during their tour of duty to Malaysia. When they were here, we met every now and then. They kept me updated on their yet another adventure. Besides being keen hikers and long-distance runners, they soon debelled into cycling.

One of the most adventurous expeditions that they embarked upon must surely be their journey to Japan. They did it in style, however. Investing in a tandem bicycle, they started their journey in Kuala Lumpur and cycled their way all the way to Sapporo in Japan. Of course, I assume there must have been a ferry trip somewhere between South Korea to Japan and to Hokkaido.


Taking an extended leave from their daytime jobs and sorting out familial commitments, armed with basic necessities, pedal and leg power and the traditional paper maps, they embarked on their journey. 


Their excited family members and friends managed to follow their progress as they periodically updated their positions on their blog http://7billionand2.blogspot.com/ whenever digital signals showed up.


An interesting thing happened when they reached China. The Border Control officers, bored stamping document after document in a seemingly monotonous chore, must have been jolted off their slumber when they saw Wim and Ellen’s immigration card. They must have dropped off their chairs when they saw the mode of transportation as a bicycle. They came out of their cubicles to see what kind of vehicle had brought them all the way from the land at the tip of the South China Sea to mainland China!


They contacted their superiors to give a good inspection and scanning to ensure no wonder fuels were smuggled into China!


Incidentally, our paths almost crossed when they were passing through Cambodia. I had gone for a family visit (by air, of course), but due to logistics, I did not catch them there.


One life lesson they imparted from this travel is worth mentioning. After travelling for months, they finally reached Korea. Even though the travelling light as they had to carry their baggage on their tandem bicycle, they packed the bare minimum. Even then, they realised that half of their things remained untouched. 


By chance, an old friend caught up with Wim and Ellen while in South Korea. They sent back their unused things in tY their luggage as he returned to Kuala Lumpur. Wim’s famous pearl of wisdom, he mentioned later on, was this - half of the things that we think we need in this life are worthless. We do not require half of the things we think are essential for life. Sadly, we overestimate. Epicurean teachings are worth collecting. Give me wheat, give me water, and I will be a happy man.


Asian elephant close-up - Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka

Get off my back! No close-ups, no long shots. Just leave me alone. Too much on my elephantine mind right now. First, you used me in your wars. Then you took my tusk; you said it was priceless. You forced me to pull your logs and carry spoilt brats on my back. With a shortage of water catchment areas and a lack of habitat, I have nowhere to go. Now, don’t ask me to dance for you. Go get a monkey! FG



They have since returned to Belgium, but they continue in their search of natural beauty in the four corners of the world.


I was pleasantly surprised one day when I received a signed copy of his collection of photographs he had taken during his escapades. Apparently, his other passions include composing impressive pictures and capturing the picturesque side of nature. He had earlier requested some of his friends, yours truly included, to write little snippets based on the pictures Wim and Ellen had taken in their travels..


With permission, I had taken the liberty to reproduce some from his coffee table book.


Beach flower after a downpour, surviving in harsh conditions - Koh Lipe, Thailand.

Perspiring trying to keep the beauty amidst a world so harsh;
being a flower among the thorns. FG


Intriguing rock formations - Takachiho canyon, Kyushu, Japan.
You ain’t heavy, I am your rock. FG




Thursday, 24 January 2019

Why we take pictures?

Shirkers (2018)
Producer and Director: Sandi Tan

Imagine our life is like a giant boulder rolling down slowly the street without stopping. All along its path, it would be collecting grime and shedding filth at the same time. Some of the dirt that it picks up sticks for a good while others may leave as quickly as it is get attached. In our passage of life, every encounter is an event. Some contacts stay to build an everlasting bond and others may just be mere passing memories. Sometimes, we cling on to these flitting moments. We yearn to relive those moments as we feel we could have achieved more if we had followed a different trajectory or at least gasped to that speckle a little longer.

That must be the reason why old photographs and footages evoke the kind of emotion that questions our existence. Spiralling our memories to a specific time and space could stir the avalanche of sensation that could make us wonder if our lives would have different if we had taken a different path. 

This documentary made by a Singaporean is a trip down memory lane of sorts. Three teenage girls got together with a filmmaker teacher to make a simple movie depicting the ordinary lives of people around the streets of Singapore. In spite of the teacher’s promise to do the post-production finishing touches on it and its subsequent release, it never came to fruition. The teacher went missing.

20 years on, after sailing the rough seas of life, the brain behind the venture, Sandi, decide to delve into this missing time capsule; especially after receiving an email from the teacher’s ex-wife from another corner of the world to take reels of film that belonged to Sandi as she was about to dispose of them.
This journey into exorcising the ghost had haunted her whole life also opened the can of worms that covered her teacher’s colourful life. 

An exciting watch from our southern neighbours. It managed to snatch many international accolades. 

Point to ponder: We all agree that we capture that special moment for us to savour on in our lives. But surely, clicking at every angle and being the centre of every picture is not normal. We should appreciate the beauty of a natural landscape, not be the main subject every time while the landscape as the backdrop always. 


Monday, 29 October 2018

Valencia - Land of Paella


Featured post on IndiBlogger, the biggest community of Indian BloggersI was taken back when I was told that paella (pronounced payea) was the national dish of Spain; surprised because it was basically a variant of what Malaysian know as 'nasi goreng' and that rice could be a staple food in a region in Europe. Rice was introduced to this region in the 10th century by the Moors in Andalusia, making rice eating a custom in this region. Valencia is well known for its varieties of paella.

Paella - the rice is of the round ended variety, bomba rice. ©FG
Seafood paella, pick your choice: rabbit meat, snail, squid with black ink. ©SKCL

Around the railway station ©FG
High Street ©FG

Like opium to the masses, every town in Spain has a football team to showcase the prowess of the local boys. Everybody is happy; the boys who have their soccer stars to look up to for aim in life, the local populace are kept busy anticipating their favourite team's next outcome, the local thug with his betting racket, the local council with revenue, the club with selling tickets and memorabilia, the country with the proud yell of nationalism and the Malaysian bookies who decide the success or fall of the clubs. 
Valencia FC stadium - Mestalla ©FG
©FG




The confluence of people exchanging their produce is the precursor of business activities. The Central Market of Valencia is an important landmark for visitors. Around this iconic structure are many sites of historical significance.

Even the Market (Mercado) is a tourist attraction ©FG
Jamóne ©FG

Aesthetically pleasing and pleasant to olfactory senses - Valencia Mercado Central ©FG
Around the Central Market ©FG
©FG

©FG







In the vicinity of the Virgin Square ©FG
Cathedral of Valencia ©FG

©FG

Valencia is an important port city. In the 15th century, it was an important trade centre 
before its role dwindled as the trans-Atlantic dealings became more lucrative. In its heydays, the area around the Central Market was abuzz with activity. Many a priceless deal were inked under the roofs of The Silk Exchange building, the structure considered one of most attractive and architecturally important of ancient Valencia. 

©FG

©FG

Look at the intricate woodwork over the ceiling and be mesmerised! ©FG



3D effect flooring ©FG

Fine masonry ©FG

©FG


©FG

©FG

Gothic ceiling ©FG



The City of Arts and Sciences is an ultra-modern looking nouveau designed building that
houses exhibition halls, museum, recreational water park, oceanographic centre and an opera house. Unfortunately, it looked grossly underutilised with hardly any activities on-going.
©FG

©FG

©FG

©FG

©FG

Please remove the veil of ignorance!